Justice, Mercy, Grace
by Zeltra
Summary: There was this one house, in the middle of the neighborhood, that was bigger than all the other houses in Castelle. Pipit said that girls would fawn over us, not just for how rich we were, but how handsome we were. I thought that if I ever lived in a place like that, I'd be forever content. We adored this house as kids. As we grew older, though, things changed. AU one-shot


**A/N: Dear Goddesses, help this writer… She only seems to be able to write one-shots…**

**Anyways, here's another modern fic for your faces. This is a sort of new idea. I made Karane and Zelda sisters, don't judge me. So, without further ado…**

XXXXXXX

Justice, Mercy, Grace

I swore to myself I'd never forget that day, and I haven't yet.

I was only a kid at the time, and I only had two friends. Everyone else picked on for my long hair that I kept in a short ponytail under my hat. They made fun of my hat, too. It was something I had been given by my uncle, who raised me and died when I was six. I was sent to an orphanage in Castelle. I kept the hat on all the time, to the point I forgot it was on when I fell asleep. It was green and pointed on the end. Uncle used to tell me it was the same hat that a legendary Elvin Hero used to wear. Green has been my favorite color ever since.

My best friend, Saria, loved my hat. She said it reminded her of her home, back in a forest in a village that was made up of mostly children, where the people wore green and brown to hide from any dangers that were in the woods. She said there was one tree unlike the rest, one that looked as though it had a face. The people called it 'Deku'. Saria also said that the fireflies in the forest linked to each other in strings, so tightly packed that they looked like fairies. She called me Link, after these bonds for the flies, because she said my eyes, a bright blue color, reminded her of the reflections the bugs gave off. My uncle never called me by a specific name. He just called me 'kid'. I took Link as my name.

My other friend, Pipit, was a bit of a stuck-up troublemaker, if that makes any sense. While adults were around, he made sure that everyone in the room was behaving. When we were alone, he and I would sneak out of the building and walk around Castelle. Every night, we did this. Every night, we went uptown, where all the rich people's houses were.

There was this one house, in the middle of the neighborhood, that was bigger than all the other houses in Castelle. It was made of white bricks, with gold – painted gold or real gold, we didn't know – details. There was a tall iron fence and a huge yard between us and the mansion. We used to sit on the sidewalk, coming up with wild ideas of what it was like to live in a house like that. We fantasized that we lived in the house. We hoped that whoever lived in that house would adopt us someday. We said that if we did live in that mansion, we wouldn't have to lift a finger or do any chores, because our servants would do it for us. Pipit said that girls would fawn over us, not just for how rich we were, but how handsome we were. I thought that if I ever lived in a place like that, I would never have to leave, and I'd be forever content. We adored this house as kids.

As we grew older, though, we visited less often, because we were needed to help the younger kids. Saria had been adopted since. When Pip and I did visit the house, it was to unleash our anger that was built up because of the children. We thought our anger would subside by the sight and fantasies that came from our favorite place we'd never been. Only that, instead of our anger being calmed, our rage was taken out on the house itself.

We climbed over a short part of the metal fence and sprinted across the yard, careful not to be spotted by the people's dog, the doghouse said 'Keaton'. We covered the grass with toilet paper as we went. We threw rolls as far up as we could, getting it caught on the gold plating that stuck off the sides of the house. There were many times we were almost caught. One of these times, we had found old cans of spray paint in the storage shed at the orphanage. After spraying graffiti all over the sides of the house, we ran and hid in some of the bushes, looking back at the mansion to admire our work. Two girls about our age, one blonde and one brunette, walked out of the house, dressed for a party. They saw the graffiti and screamed. The girls ran inside to find flashlights. Once they came back, they saw the yard was, once again, covered with paper. Their gazes turned to the sides of their house. I looked to Pipit, a smirk on my face. He returned the gesture. The girls started shining their lights across the yard, looking for a culprit.

"Good thing we wore black, huh Pip?" I whispered to my friend. He huffed a chuckle in reply.

The blonde's flashlight turned to our general area. I put a hand over my mouth. I shot Pip a scared look, his blue eyes sparkling warily.

"Close your eyes. Blue's easy to see," I said, hand still over my mouth. I looked back to the blonde, who was walking across the yard. I saw Pipit close his eyes from the corner of my sight. I wanted to follow suit, but I caught myself staring at the blonde. She was beautiful, even in the dark.

"Karry!" She shouted, "I think I've found something!"

"You sure, Zellie?" the brunette called back, searching through her own bush. I felt my eyes widen. A curious look spread across her gorgeous features.

"Never mind. It's nothing. Let's just give up, Karane," she yelled, not stripping her eyes from Pipit and I's location. "I don't think we'll be able to find anything. Let's just get to the birthday party."

"Okay, Zelda," she other girl yelled back, flicking her light off. The blonde – Zelda? – turned around slowly and walked back to her house. I let a breath I wasn't aware I was holding escape my mouth.

"Thanks, Zellie," Pip whispered.

"Yeah," I said quietly, watching her walk away. "Let's get back to the orphanage. And quick, before they get back."

We ran across the yard and climbed over the fence again as fast as we could, not aware the girls were watching as we went.

XXXXXXX

A couple weeks passed, and Pipit and I hadn't been back to the house since that night. Many of the children had been adopted, to the point where there were about twelve kids in the orphanage in all, Pip and I included. Most of the families who had adopted were rich, elderly folk. Pip and I resented these people, and the children they were adopting, knowing that they had forgotten about the people who had been there most of their life. Pip and I were almost eighteen, old enough to get out of the orphanage. He would turn before me, only by three months, and he said he'd wait for me.

Telma, the caretaker, had told us there was another person coming to adopt. I sighed and pulled my hat over my face, lying back in my chair. I slipped on my headphones to tune out the world.

There was a knock at the door. Telma yelled at Pipit and I to open it. I sat up quickly, hat falling off the back of my head, and raced down the stairs to the front door. I opened the heavy piece of splintered wood. A man with a while beard, round stomach, and Santa-smile stood on the other side.

"Uh, come in, sir," I said, stepping back.

"Thank you, my boy," the man chuckled. He was being followed by two girls, one blonde, and one brunette.

I felt my jaw drop.

"I-I'll go get Telma," I said, trying my best to regain my composure.

I shot up the squeaky staircase. I reached the top, and walked to Telma's little office. "Customer."

"Oh, he's here already!" she exclaimed. She walked down the steps slowly, whistling as she did. I strode back to the chair I was sitting in and grabbed my hat. "Pip!" I said, loud enough he could hear, quiet enough the people downstairs couldn't.

"Yeah, Link?" he replied from the other couch.

"It's those girls from two weeks ago. Zelda and Karane."

No immediate response. Suddenly, he shot up from his seat, wide-eyed, and started pacing the floor. "How?!"

"I don't know, they're here."

"Link! Pipit!" We heard Telma call us from downstairs. We looked at each other, looks of horror on our faces.

I stepped on the rickety stairs, Pipit in tow. We made our way down quickly.

"But as I was saying, Ms. Telma," the man said to our caretaker, "these razes have been happening for the past few years, and I need some help on catching them."

"Well," she turned to Pip and I, "these boys should be perfect."

Pip and I looked at each other, then back at the man and girls. I caught the blonde's eyes. She gasped.

"What is it, Zelda?" the man turned to his daughter.

"Uh… Nothing, Daddy," she said rolling her eyes and shaking her head slightly. The brunette elbowed her sister, wiggling her eyebrows. The blonde glared at her.

"Well, boys, what do you say?" the man held out his arms to us.

Pipit looked at me as I bowed my head, clenching my teeth.

"You're those boys!" Zelda squealed. "I remember seeing your eyes through those bushes out front!"

"Link?" Telma lifted my head with two fingers. "Pipit?"

I ran a hand through my hair, grabbing onto the tip of my hat and clenching in my fist. "Yes, Telma." Pipit sighed.

"Yes, Telma," he said.

Telma's eyes looked as though they'd pop out of her skull. "Why?!"

"It matters not, Ms. Telma," the man said. "The defacements have been removed."

Pipit, the two girls, and I stared at him in disbelief.

"We cannot dwell on the past, now can we?" he chuckled.

"I… I guess not, Daphnes," Telma stuttered.

"Now boys, why _did_ you do these things?" the man asked.

"Daily, weekly, monthly, annually," I started, ducking my head again, "people came in, adopting kids, mostly the kids who just got here, not taking into thought those who had been here for most of their lives, like Pipit and I. We used to look at houses like yours and think about what it'd be like if we lived there. People kept coming in and not adopting us, and…"

"Those thoughts changed, huh buddy," Pipit said. It's wasn't a question.

"Hm…" the man stroked his beard. "Valid reasons, I should say."

Pipit and I looked at him incredulously again.

"Well, Zelda, Karane," he turned to the "what do you think?"

"Adopt them if you want," the blonde scoffed, "but I'll never consider them as my brothers."

"Same here," the brunette agreed, crossing her arms.

"You must forgive these boys," he said, trying to calm his daughters down. "Everyone gets angered."

Pipit looked at Karane. The brunette blushed a bit, and she avoided his gaze. The blonde looked at me, and I saw her lips quiver. My eyebrow raised slightly. I wasn't expecting anything from her. I knew I'd done something wrong. She sighed, a smirk dancing onto her face. She walked up to me.

I tensed up.

"You won't be my brother," she seethed, "but I will forgive you. I forgive you both."

"I do, too!" Karane stepped in line with Zelda. "I forgive you guys, too."

"I do, too," Telma said, embracing Pipit and I both. "You're both good kids. I'll miss having you around." She let go of us, her hands remaining on our shoulders. "Now, go pack up your things."

We smiled in a silent harmony.

Deserving justice, forgetting mercy, retrieving grace, we were going home.


End file.
